CINCINNATI – After he pulled into second with a double and a critical insurance RBI, Jason Phillips let out what can only be described as a whoop.

“I, like, hyperventilated,” he said.

It might as well have been an enthusiastic sigh of relief.

Phillips’ ninth-inning RBI double plated the Mets’ seventh run of the afternoon, and half an hour earlier, that run wouldn’t have figured to be relevant. But after taking a six-run lead entering the eighth, the Mets nearly suffered a momentous collapse, allowing the Reds to score five runs and put the go-ahead run on first base.

Eventually, the Mets escaped. And got a much-needed 7-6 win – a critical victory considering the You Know Whos are on their way to Shea tonight.

“The Mets win,” said Braden Looper, who finished up the game for an eventful 15th save. “That’s all that matters.”

Much of the early credit has to go to Al Leiter, who fashioned seven scoreless innings of two-hit ball. It was his finest effort of the year, not only for his pitching line but simply for the way he picked up his teammates and worked out of troublesome jams.

In the second inning, Adam Dunn’s blooper dropped between Shane Spencer and Cliff Floyd for a leadoff double. A single later, there were runners on first and third and none out. But Leiter blew away Jason LaRue and got Tim Hummel to bounce into a double play.

The next inning, Eric Valent’s error allowed D’Angelo Jimenez to reach with nobody out. But Leiter stranded him as well,

“I didn’t really feel like I was in trouble,” Leiter said.

Leiter improved to 4-2 and now sports a dazzling 2.13 ERA. He’s just two-thirds of an inning short of qualifying for the ERA title, but his mark is tops in the game, a nudge ahead of Tom Glavine’s 2.16 standard.

After suffering a 16-inning scoring drought, the Mets (38-39) finally got the lumber going when Eric Valent slammed a solo homer in the fifth. Three more homers – from Shane Spencer (three-run shot), Jose Reyes and Richard Hidalgo – made it 6-zip going into the bottom of the eighth.

Having thrown 116 pitches, however, Leiter was done. And after Ricky Bottalico took the hill, things began to unravel.

“It was 6-0 and Ricky’s been pitching so well,” Looper said. “Not that I wasn’t ready, but boom, boom, boom, it just started happening.”

With a runner on first and two outs, the Reds sandwiched a single between two doubles, bringing in three runs. After a questionable hit-by-pitch of Jacob Cruz (“I didn’t hit the guy,” Bottalico said, and he appeared to be right), the Reds had runners on first and second and none other than Ken Griffey Jr. pinch hitting as the tying run.

Enter Looper, who allowed Griffey to bloop a single to left to bring in a fourth run. Then Javier Valentin – who was 0-for-23 with runners in scoring position this year – added another RBI single. Make it 6-5.

Finally, Looper got Ryan Freel to ground out and keep the Mets ahead. Phillips then added his RBI double in the ninth, which loomed even larger when Dunn slammed a solo homer in the bottom half of the frame.

“I did my job,” Bottalico joked. “I got Looper a save, right?”

Then Bottalico chuckled. Indeed, the Mets could afford to laugh. But just barely.

—

Leit on!

Al Leiter has a majorleague leading 2.13 ERA, but yesterday was just his fourth win of the season. The big reason: the Mets could not score runs during his starts – until the last two, both Leiter wins.